ATTRIBUTED TO THE MASTOS PAINTER, CIRCA 530 B.C.

The Mastos Painter takes his name from a breast-shaped two-handled cup in Würzburg. He is associated with the Lysippides Painter, who was a major follower of Exekias, the most admired and respected of all Attic black-figure artists (see p. 20 in B. Cohen, The Colors of Clay: Special Techniques in Athenian Vases). The hydria presented here is noteworthy for the very early use of an animal frieze in the predella. Also unusual is the use of lotus-palmette chain as a framing ornament at the sides of the main panel, which more commonly feature ivy vines, and the rosettes on the rim, typically found on ovoid amphorae. Another hydria by the Mastos Painter, now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, likewise features lotus-palmette chains framing main panel (see p. 261, no. 37 in J.D. Beazley, Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters). The New York hydria has a kalos inscription praising Onetorides, whose name appears mainly on vases by Exekias, providing a further link between the Mastos Painter and Exekias.

Here, the main panel depicts Herakles mounting a chariot, his team of horses all black but for the second from the left painted in added white, the so-called pole horse. Standing beside the horses is the hero’s patron goddess, Athena, fully armed, and Hermes, who walks to the right but turns back to face her. Standing at the far right is a female onlooker, facing left. Herakles in a chariot in the presence of the gods is thought to depict his arrival on Mt. Olympos, but without Athena driving, “the apotheosis element is suppressed…” (see J. Boardman, “Herakles,” LIMC, vol. V, p. 127, and no. 2904 for a column-krater in Naples with a similar scene by a painter related to Lysippides). Centered on the shoulders is Theseus battling the Minotaur, with a male onlooker to the left and Ariadne seated to the right.